At some point this week, a selection panel consisting of Team Sky managers and coaches will sit down to make a difficult decision: which nine of the team’s 28 riders will be in Liege, Belgium, on Saturday, June 30th for the start of the 2012 Tour de France....

When you race or work for a professional cycling team, you get used to traveling—a lot. For teams competing almost exclusively in Europe, travel time is less extreme as most countries are relatively close to one another.

Believe it or not, May is upon us, a month that brings the Tour of Italy and the Tour of California—and perhaps your first gran fondo or century.
Your first big event is always a milestone as you’re likely riding longer, farther, and maybe faster than ever before.

It’s time for me to come clean.
Feeling insecure about my fitness prior to my trip to ride the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix a few weeks ago, I tried some new “training aids” to help me get an edge.
It started as things like this often do: with some off-the-record advic...

About Road Scholar

Whit Yost's "past life" experiences might fit most cycling fans' definitions of living the dream. He's raced as an amateur on Belgian cobbles, traveled Europe to help build a pro team, and piloted that team from Malaysia to Mont Ventoux. As an assistant director with Mercury-Viatel, he worked with Gord Fraser, Floyd Landis, and Peter Van Petegem. 1996 Tour of Italy champion Pavel Tonkov calls him "direttore."

As Bicycling's Road Scholar, he'll demystify and examine racing through the lens of the everyman, and offer tips and advice to help any cyclist ride faster, stronger, and smarter.